Stationary filling supply loom



Au 19, 1969 K. w. WUEGER 3.461319 STATIONARY F ILLING SUPPLY LOOM Filed Sept. 15, 1967 Z'Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR KARL W. WUEGER ATTORNEY 19, 1969, K. w. WUEGER 3,461,919

STATIONARY FILLING SUPPLY LOOM Filed Sept, 13, 1967' v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR KARL W. WUEGER a' mawwx.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,461,919 STATIONARY FILLING SUPPLY LOOM Karl Willi Wueger, Spencer, Mass., assignor to 'Crompton & Knowles Corporation, Worcester, Mass., at corporation of Massachusetts Filed Sept. 13, 1967, Ser. No. 667,457 Int. Cl. D03d 49/32 US. Cl. 139-125 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A 100m wherein the filling yarn is drawn from a stationary package and guided through a warp shed by a projectile which is suspended during its passage through the shed in a fluid medium.

This invention relates to looms for weaving fabrics wherein the filling yarn is drawn from a stationary supply and guided through a shed formed by warp yarns by means of a projectile or shuttle such as are fully disclosed in my US. patent applications, Ser. No. 555,895 and 555,896, both of which were filed June 7, 1966.

In looms wherein the filling yarn is inserted into warp sheds by means of a projectile or carrier at extremely high rates of speed it becomes, at the same time, more important and more diflicult to effectively and accurately guide the projectile during its passage through the warp shed. In known constructions, such as that shown in US. Patents No. 2,316,703 and No. 3,075,560, spaced slotted guide plates which move into the shed just before the picking of the shuttle or projectile to guide it. The projectile is picked through the slots in the spaced plates to positively guide the projectile during its flight. This means for guiding the projectile is adequate for lower loom speeds but the frictional contact between the projectile and the guide plates severely limit the loom speed.

It is an object of the invention to provide a loom wherein the yarn guiding projectile is suspended on a fluid cushion during its passage through the warp shed.

It is a more specific object of the invention to provide a loom wherein the yarn guiding projectile is floatingly suspended in a fluid medium during its passage through the warp shed.

These objects are accomplished by a loom which is provided with means mounted on the lay for directing streams of a fluid such as air in generally opposed directions in intersecting planes. These streams may alternate along the length of the lay or they may completely surround the projectile. In any instance the projectile is freely suspended during its flight through the warp shed and does not normally come into contact with either the top or the bottom layers of warp yarn forming the shed.

The projectile may be propelled through the shed in the manner disclosed in the above-identified applications or by an other means, the exact means used not being critical to this invention.

Further the projectile may be of the type disclosed in the above-identified applications or of the gripper type such as that shown in US. Patents No. 2,099,627 and No. 2,805,687.

The invention, and additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description thereof when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic partial cross sectional illustration of a portion of a loom for weaving, showing the shed formed by warp yarns, lay, reed, and means for forming a fluid cushion for said projectile;

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic plan illustration of a portion of the fluid cushion forming means;

FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatic front illustration of a portion of the fluid cushion forming means;

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic sectional illustration taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE 1 and shows the paths of the opposed fluid streams;

FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic front illustration of the lay showing the fluid cushion means grouped into a plurality of sections separately controlled and the control valve in partial section; and

FIGURE 6 is a diagrammattic illustration of a second embodiment of the means for forming a fluid cushion using a plurality of fluid streams directed in opposed intersecting planes at each location.

Referring more particularly to FIGURES 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings, 10 designates a warp shed formed by warp yarns 12 and 14 by virtue of being drawn through eyes of heddles 15. The heddles are supported in the usual harness frames which are not shown. These frames are raised and lowered to form various sheds by conventional shedding motions such as dobbies, cams, or jacquered mechanisms which form no part of this invention and are therefore, not shown.

Yarns 12 and 14 pass through a reed 18, gradually converging at the fell 19 of the cloth 21 being woven from the warp yarns and a filling yarn 17, which is guided through shed 10, and succeeding sheds by a shuttle or projectile P.

The projectile may be of several types, the tubular guide disclosed in my above-identified applications or of the gripper shuttle type such. as that disclosed in US. Patents No. 2,099,627 and No. 2,805,687. While the projectile shown is round in cross section, tests have shown that it can take various other cross sectional shapes, e.g. oval, hexagonal, pentagonal, etc. Its shape is not critical to the operation of the invention in any instance.

The projectile may be propelled through shed 10 by the means fully disclosed in my above-identified applications or by any other means, as will be obvious to those skilled in the weaving arts.

Projectile P is suspended during its flight through shed 10 by means of a fluid cushion which normally suspends the projectile just above warp yarns 14 and just below warp yarns 12 in a manner which will be fully explained presently.

The fluid cushion forming member 22 is supported on lay 20 and moves therewith from the full line position to the dotted line beat-up position as shown in FIGURE 1. Projecting upwardly from member 22 are a plurality of ribs 24 and 26 which slope in opposite directions and alternate along the length of member 22. As can be seen diagrammatically in FIGURE 2 a plurality of members 22 extend along the length of the lay so as to provide a fluid cushion for the projectile at least during its entire flight through the warp shed.

The fluid cushion for the projectile is provided by small streams of a fluid such as air or any other nontoxic gas being emitted from openings 28 and 30 in ribs 24 and 26. These streams of fluid are emitted in generally opposed directions but in intersecting planes. Openings 28 and 30 are supplied substantially equally with fluid under pressure by passageways 32 and 34 from a central conduit 36 which extends the length of member 22 with its ends sealed. The central conduit is supplied in turn by a flexible line 38 from a source directly and continuously or periodically in a manner to be described in greater detail below.

When the lay is in its full line or picking position as shown in FIGURE 1, ribs 24 and 26 enter between yarns 14 into shed 10 and as the lay moves to the dotted line position, ribs 24 and 26 leave the shed to permit reed 18 to beat filling yarn 17 into the fell 19 in a conventional 3 manner. To facilitate their entry into the shed ribs 24 and 26 are rounded as shown in FIGURE 4.

While ribs 24 and 26 are in shed they are supplied with fluid under pressure which exits through openings 28 and 30 as noted above. To suspend the projectile in this embodiment the fluid streams must strike the projectile at an angle to its horizontal center line so that substantial portions of said streams are directed to one side of said projectile between it and the surface of the ribs. The projectile is held in equilibrium against its fluid cushion by the pressure of the atmosphere in accordance with the well known Bernoulli equation relating to the flow of a fluid around a body:

P+ /2pV +pgh=constant where:

P=pressure of the fluid;

pzdensity of the fluid;

V=velocity of the fluid; g=gravitational force on body; and h=height or lift (potential energy).

The operation of this principle here is very much like that used in designing air foils where the fluid (air) attains a greater velocity when directed about one side of a body and thereby reduces the atmospheric pressure on that side of the body. In aircraft this principle is used to reduce the pressure on the upper side of the wing and to permit the greater atmospheric pressure on the underside of the wing to lift it until its weight balances the lift caused by the reduced pressure on the upper side of the wing. Applicant uses this principle in that substantially all of his fluid streams are directed so as to increase the velocity of the fluid between his projectile and the surfaces of the ribs, thereby reducing the pressure therebetween and causing the atmospheric pressure to press the projectile toward the surface of ribs 24 and 26. This force is counteracted by the cushion of fluid directed between the surfaces of the ribs and the projectile and an equilibrium is reached whereby the projectile is guided in a substantially straight line during its flight through the warp shed.

It is essential that there be a substantial balance between the opposed fluid streams but they need not alternate singly as shown in FIGURE 3, though this arrangement has been found very successful, e.g. the streams could alternate in pairs, i.e. two streams in one direction, etc. However, if the opposed streams are greatly out of balance the projectile will fluctuate or swing during its passage through the shed. This is detrimental, in that even slight fluctuations tend to slow the projectile down and great fluctuations will cause the projectile to become ensnarled with the warp yarns, resulting in a smash out due to the fact that the reed continues its beat-up motion even though the projectile is still within the shed.

The device for forming the fluid cushion, described above may be operated continuously while the loom is operative or it can be divided into separate sections sequentially pressurized in timed relation with the flight of the projectile as shown in FIGURE 5. In FIGURE 5 the fluid cushion forming means 22 is separated into a plurality of sections 22, 22, 22" and 22 which are individually pressurized. It is to be understood that any number of sections may be used and the number selected will depend, in part, at least, upon the width of the loom, i.e. the length of the lay and the length and speed of the projectile. The primary requirement is that the projectile should be under the influence of the fluid streams at all times in order to assure proper guidance thereof. Sections 22, 22, 22" and 22 are fed by flexible lines 38, 38, 38 and 38", the other ends of which are connected to outlet ports 44 in a sleeve 42 of a control valve 40. Valve 40 also has inlet ports 46, 46, 46", and 46" opposite the outlet ports which open into a pressure chamber 56 which in turn is connected by a supply line 58 of a source 60 of fluid under pressure. The source may be a pump or any source of compressed fluid that is available such as the usual compressed air lines in the mills. In any instance chamber 56 remains constantly pressurized at the desired pressure. Valve 40 has a sliding core member 48 which maintains a metal-to-metal seal with the inner circumference of sleeve 42 to prevent the fluid from escaping. Core 48 has a plurality of circumferential grooves 50 so spaced along its length that the inlet and outlet ports in sleeve 42 will be sequentially connected as core 48 slides Within sleeve 42, e.g. as shown in FIGURE 5, inlet port 46 and outlet port 44 are connected by groove 50 and cushion section 22 is pressurized. As core 48 moves to the right in FIGURE 5 the connection between ports 44 and 46 is broken just as ports 44 and 46' are connected, etc. on down the line of ports until the last section 22" is pressurized. At this point, core 48 moves to close ports 44' and 46" and dwells to the same extent as does the projectile and then reverses its direction whereupon the inlet and outlet ports are connected in the reverse sequence as the core moves in the opposite direction, e.g. to the left in FIGURE 5. Thus ports 44 and 46 will be the last ports connected and the core will then dwell with the projectile at the left of FIGURE 5 With the moving of groove 50 past its connection point with ports 44 and 46.

Core 48 is moved between its extreme positions by means of an eccentric or cam 52 which has a groove for the reception of a cam follower 51. Cam 52 is supported for rotation by a shaft 54 which is driven by the loom drive so that the fluid cushion sections will be pressurized in synchronism with the flight of the projectile.

FIGURE 6 illustrates diagrammatically another embodiment of the invention and is similar to the embodiment of FIGURES 1-4 except for the modified form of the ribs of the fluid cushion member 122. Member 122 has ribs 124 and 126 each of which has a plurality of openings 128, 128', 128" for directing a plurality of fluid streams tangentially of projectile P. Each of the openings in a single rib is fed from a feed passageway 132 which connects with a central conduit 136 as in FIGURE 4. A plurality of fluid streams at one point on the projectile reduces the atmospheric pressure even more than the single stream of FIGURE 4 and provides an even greater guiding influence on the projectile during its flight.

While in each of the embodiments described above the cushion forming device has been illustrated as being mounted on the lay of a horizontal loom it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the weaving art that it could be used on vertical looms as well since the suspending forces generated by applicants fluid streams will hold and guide the projectile even if the cushion forming means is inverted.

While any fluid can be used to achieve the desired suspension eflect it is to be appreciated that air offers the greatest advantages since it does not contaminate the working environment or the material being woven.

In the drawings and specification there have been set forth several embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms have been employed they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being deemed that of the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a loom having a stationary filling supply, means for forming a warp shed, a lay, an oblong projectile for guiding filling through said warp shed, means for propelling said projectile through said warp shed; means for guiding said projectile comprising:

(a) first orifice means for directing fluid against the surface of said projectile in a direction transverse to the length of said projectile; and

(b) second orifice means for directing fluid against the surface of said projectile in a direction transverse to the length of said projectile and in a direction convergent with the direction of fluid from said first orifice means, whereby the fluid directed by said first and second orifice means forms a cushion while simultaneously reducing the pressure between said projectile and said first and second orifice means.

2. In a loom as set forth in claim 1, wherein said fluid is air.

3. In a loom as set forth in claim 1, wherein said orifice means are supported by the lay and enter the warp shed during the passage of the projectile therethrough and leave the warp shed before the filling is beat up.

4. In a loom as set forth in claim 3 wherein each of said orifice means comprises ribs which enter the warp shed between the yarns comprising the lower portion thereof.

5. In a loom as set forth in claim 4, wherein the tops of said ribs are tapered to facilitate their entry into the warp shed.

6. In a loom as set forth in claim 4, wherein said ribs are spaced and extend along said lay at least the Width of the warp shed, groups of which are sequentially connected to a source of fluid under pressure as the projectile moves through the warp shed.

7. Means for suspending and guiding a moving oblong projectile comprising:

(a) first orifice means for directing fluid against the surface of said projectile in a direction transverse to the length of said projectile; and

(b) second orifice means for directing fluid against the surface of said projectile in a direction transverse to the length of said projectile and in a direction convergent with the direction of fluid from said first orifice means, whereby the fluid directed by said first and second orifice means forms a cushion while simultaneously reducing the pressure between said projectile and said first and second orifice means.

8. Means for suspending and guiding a projectile as set forth in claim 7 wherein said fluid is air.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 4/1966 France.

OTHER REFERENCES German App. No. 1,076,586, Pub. Feb. 25, 1960, Class 139-125. 

